About Barrow journal. (Winder, Ga.) 2008-2016 | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2009)
PAGE 2A BARROW JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2009 Student suspended over threat BY SUSAN NORMAN The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office is investi gating an incident last week involving a Westside Middle School student who on her school bus allegedly wrote a letter threatening to harm 20 other girls at the school. School officials determined the threats were not credible, but suspended the student for the rest of the school year. Now the sheriff’s office is investigating the incident to determine the seriousness of the threats and if criminal charges are warranted. According to a school sys tem spokesperson, the inci dent happened earlier this week while the girl was rid ing home from school on the bus. “The primary instigator started asking “who-hates- who’’ and making a list of names,” said Lisa Leighton, Public Relations Coordinator for Barrow County Schools. “This is a classic case of ‘mean-spirited’ middle- school girl activity.” Another student found out about the letter and told the sheriff’s deputy who works as the school resource offi cer. That officer reported the incident to the principal, Eli Welch. He investigated the situation and suspended the student who started it for 10 days as required by the Barrow County Schools Code of Conduct, Leighton said. “There was no apparent reason to do more than what was necessary in light of all the evidence he had and what he knew about this particular young lady,” she added. According to the sheriff’s office May 22 press release, “the student claimed to have no actual intent to fulfill any of the written threats.” While school officials determined the student’s let ter posed no real threat to stu dents or teachers, that “does not mean that the student’s actions were appropriate, justified, or even legal,” the press release states. The Sheriff’s office’s School Resource Unit and Criminal Investigations Division are working in cooperation with school officials. Crisis center has new hotline, website A local rape crisis support center is launch ing a 24-hour crisis hotline and interactive website. The Piedmont Rape Crisis Center is a local resource on sexual assault issues that run the gamut from sexual harassment to rape in Barrow, Banks and Jackson counties. Instead of marking Sexual Assault Awareness month with the usual awareness walk or event, the staff, board and volunteers of the group decided to launch the new hotline and website. “We are onboard in tackling one of our biggest obstacles to comprehensive service delivery - bridging the gap between the three counties and making our services more acces sible,” said board president Rachel Love. The crisis hotline is staffed by trained Piedmont Rape Crisis Center staff and cri sis advocate volunteers who are open to answering questions, providing information and referrals, assisting with the reporting procedure, or just listening to caller concerns. The caller always has the option of remaining anonymous and all conversations are confi dential. The sexual assault crisis hotline is 770-586- 5423. To complement the hotline service, the group also launched an interactive website at www.piedmontrapecrisis.com with the assis tance of volunteer Natasha Murphy, owner of Content to Help. The website is a forum designed to function as an educational tool. It hosts information about Piedmont Rape Crisis Center services, instruction on how to seek immediate help, resource sheets on a variety of sexual assault issues and a blog with posts in response to anonymous questions. The resource sheets will soon be accom panied by short informational videos that address topics such as “How to Help a Friend or Family Member” and “An Overview of the Reporting Procedure.” “In light of the economic crisis, we have really come together to strategize on how to reach out to residents of the Piedmont Judicial Circuit with innovative tools that make our services more accessible while educating the community,” said Joy Strickland, director of the Piedmont Rape Crisis Center. County finances continued from 1A With characteristically blunt language, Yearwood said the county is broke; that at the current pace of revenues and expenditures, it may not be able to pay its employees by the end of this calendar year; and that the situation in the fiscal year 2010 will be even worse. He said he didn’t have the answer, asked for the offi cials’ input, and then put all of them on notice that they, too, would shoulder the responsi bility - and the political risk - with him for how the budget crisis is handled. “You can only spend what you’ve got, and I'm not in favor of going out and bor rowing money to try to get through this,” Yearwood said. “The way to approach this and solve it is cut, cut, cut. Where are we going to cut? That’s up to y’all.” ADAMSON SPEAKS Retired senior judge Bob Adamson spoke first and most extensively at last week’s meeting. First, he said, the county must determine which ser vices are essential and staff those. Second, the county should correct any salaries that may be too high due to the aggres sive implementation of a 2005 pay study. Third, the county should try marketing two vacant tracts it purchased a few years ago for future development, but will cost an extra $1 million in annu al debt service starting this October and $2 million the next year. Sales tax ‘bump ’ not a trend For a brief moment last week, Barrow officials thought their sales tax revenues had taken a dramatic turn for the better. But further investigation of why the county got two sales tax checks from the state this month revealed that all counties got two checks. The Georgia Department of Revenue had moved to a new system of accounting, which required a one-time adjust ment across the state. That adjustment skewed the May checks for March sales taxes upward, perhaps in part to make up for some missed funds in February when the state was making the transition. Barrow officials had been anxiously awaiting the May sales tax receipts to see what the impact of the new Barrow Crossing retail center would be. But now, officials will have to wait another month or two to have a more accurate comparison of its sales tax income. The one thing Adamson cautioned against was any notion of across-the-board salary cuts due to the poten tial degradation of the quality of the workforce. “If you take the position that you are going to cut everyone across the board, what you are doing is you are lowering the pay, low ering the benefits, lowering the expectations, and creating a workforce who can’t do the job they are hired to do, and they don’t do the job,” Adamson said. “I hate to see anybody lose his job, but if you cut across the board, you are going to gradually create an average employee in Barrow County who is sub level.” District Attorney Brad Smith agreed. “You have to look at bas ing all of your decisions on what is best for the county, not what is fairest or nicest,” Smith said. “That is a union position. Across-the-board is the worst thing you could do.” He asked Yearwood to pro vide direction about the level of cuts needed and how to determine what are essential services. Sheriff Jud Smith said another across-the-board sal ary cut could take some of his lower-paid workers to within reach of the national poverty level. Winder budget continued from 1A BUDGET DOCUMENT UNFINISHED In addition to the thin pubic notice, the preliminary budget document presented Tuesday and that is to be adopted by the Winder City Council on June 18 was not complete. The published notice said the “preliminary budget... will be submitted by the Mayor to the City Council for consider ation” on May 26. All that was available Tuesday, however, was a sin gle-page budget summary for FY2010, along with a list of capital projects that could be purchased or built over the next five years; information on the unchanged water, gas and garbage rates; and a two- page list of budget amend ments needed to close out the FY2009 budget. The notice also states that the preliminary budget would be available for public review from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays beginning May 26. But Pierce said when she asked to see a copy late Tuesday afternoon at city hall, she was told she could see one only at the public hearing. Ginn said she typically publishes two advertisements prior to budget hearings. She took full responsibil ity for the paucity of public notice as well as for the unfin ished state of the budget docu ment. She said she hopes by next week to have the bound document available for the council and for public review at city hall. “In our reorganization, we lost some people that had a lot of knowledge or they retired,” she said. “I spent a lot of time with each depart ment getting them up to par with knowledge for how they handle their budgets. So we are a little behind. We want it to be right.” Ginn spent about an hour talking about the FY2010 bud get and the FY2009 budget amendments and responding to comments and questions from Pierce and from resident Bob Dixon, a former long time member of the Barrow County School Board. Dixon asked Ginn if city council members had partici pated in the budget process for fiscal year 2010. Ginn said their participation was seven months ago, when they attended a three-night retreat in October. “During the fall, we have a council retreat and each depart ment presents to the council their needs and thoughts and recommendations for their departments,” she said. SPENDING PLAN FOR FY2010 The preliminary budget for the upcoming fiscal year that starts July 1 is expected to call for a total of $29.6 million in spending, which is $5.4 mil lion less than was originally planned in the current year’s budget, according to Ginn. The decreased spending reflects the recent layoffs, as well as decreased revenue estimates from water and gas sales. “(City administrator) Bob (Beck) came to everybody and asked everybody to cut from 10-15 percent,” Ginn said. “Across the board it was about 12 percent.” The lean budget incorpo rates no planned increases in gas or water rates. The mill- age rate of the city’s fire tax is already at its state maximum, Ginn said. For city employees, that means there will be no raises in FY2010. “The only increase in per sonnel at all is for insurance,” Ginn said. “We have a 5-per cent increase built in, in case insurance premiums go up.” The capital budget for FY2010 — and beyond — will call for just over $1 mil lion in capital expenditures for departments operating out of governmental funds and $12.6 million in capital expenditures for operations out of the enter prise funds — water, gas, and sewer. However, the FY2009 bud get also called for consider able capital expenditures that were curtailed after the econ omy faltered. Ginn said the city would not spend any money on capital improvements unless reve nues surpass operating expen ditures or the city receives grants or borrows money. “If we don’t have something come in from other revenue sources, it won’t be done,” she said. Graduations continued from 1A Also, Thomas Charles Seymour-Parker, Megan Lynn Frost, Adilene Chapa, Hannah Victoria parr, Cheng Moua, Maria Ashley Stojanovic, Emily Ann Gordon, Brianna Lei Knight, Nichole Lauren Simotes and Calli Taylor Moore. Also, Meagan Renee Peppers, Erika Marlene Rios, Christopher Glen Bagwell, Nash Vizeng Heu, Terrell Edward Evans II, Margaret Aileen Dukes, Brassai Marie Robertson, Kerrigan Nicole Martin, Tyler Joel Cameron and Nallie Xiong. Also, Thomas Lionel Johnson, Amber Danielle Mann, Christopher James Everett, Judy Phonethip Ngonhkeo, Candice Lynn Eames, Staci Nicole Kirkland, Joshua Lee Knight, Samantha Marie Merrill, Joseph Fabian Stewart and Crystal Diane Powell. Also, Brittany Elizabeth Harmon, hristy Cheyenne Graham, Micheal Lex Simonton, Mehgan Chelsea Tuggle, Nianna Shaunyea Smith and Jesus Zuniga-Espinosa. APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL The Aplachee High School Honor Graduates for 2009 include: Ina Josephine Borg, Lauren Ashley Morris, Rebecca Lea Gunter, Alexander Dennis Williams, Scott Robert Dove, Katelyn N. Roberts, Amanda Marie Laufer, Elaina Rose McLean, David Cabrera and Joshua Z. Vang. Also, Katherine N. Luke, Nicole A. Hill, Lindsay Carol McCauley, Hannah E. Holmes, Leighanna S. McCauley, Shelby Erin Kabriel, Datavious A. Peters, leah Danielle Caughron, Paku Mary Lo and Rechel E. Alsup. Also, Erin L. McCoy, Adriana Villanueve Galvan, Patricia E. Barton, Elaine O. Warren- Aliff, Amparp Marisol Macias, Briannie Kaina Barthelemy, Sophie A. Jones, Lesley Alison Walters, Shua Vang and Da’Kasha Mathis. Also, Aaron Craig Paradise, Richael K. Mack, YOU'RE INVITED Please join us as we honor DR. LARRY JOHNSON upon his retirement from a distinguished 33 year career in education. Sunday, May 31,2009 Drop-In From 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Winder First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall 280 N. Broad Street, Winder Cedar Valley Nursery Sale! Sale! Sale! TREES ~ SHRUBS ~ PERENNIALS ~ ANNUALS 20% OFF ALL INVENTORY* Knock-Out Roses only $14.95 2 Weeks only! May 27 - 30 and June 3 - 6 Wed., Thurs. & Fri. 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. * Excludes Roses and Japanese Maples Located 1 mile past Barrow Regional Hospital on Highway 53 W 770-867-6759 Matthew Lo, Christy Nicole Montgomery, Robert J. Alexander, Tyler F. Harris, Angelica Yolanda Harris, Cameron J. Liptak, Marquel Deante Mosby and Ashley Vongmaly Phommaly. Also, Demeka Quochie Socree, Jessica A. Smith, Leng Vang, Deng Vue, Kaitlin L. Pritchett, Nia Abdu Ibrahim, Kristen Zoller, Amber N. Burgess, Mary Jo Morrison and Mary C. Bricker. Also, Wesley Kyle Maughon, Maria T. Antonetti, Satara Diana Chubb, Linfsay B. Schirato, Alyssa C. Getzinger, Joey Vang, Samuel lee Tilley, Miranda Oshleigh Giddens, Adrianne M. Engle and Nancy Caitlin Williams. Also, Robin Leeanna Martin, Andrew K. Sanderson, Jamie R. Whatley, Josgua Michael Solis, Jeremy A. Dial, Heather L. Barrett, Brent D. Lowe, Jessica Dawn Nelson, Alex Anthony Morales and Petor Xiong. Also, Myracle B. Dalton, Kyle Zach Sosebee, Jamie L. Jernigan, Christopher A. Cannady, Anthony M. Ferrante, Daniele M. Gentry, Maria Jose Grande-Navarro and Chandlor Anthony Murphy. Also, Kelly Nicole Turner, Anthony Donald Byard, Jannet Cortez, Jonathan David Burke, Brittany Sierra Gitzen, Joshua C. Mousinho, Lindsey E. Ennis, Tia Novell Xiong, Mason Troy Blakeslee and Clyde Tarber. Also, Julie A. Verdetto, Elizabeth Ruth Burgess, jackob Tyler O'Reilly, Kristen M. McFall, Andrew Tyler Musen, Qucravion Nacavurs Ash, Christina Joy McRea, Wendy Vorasith, Whitney Maureen Ottum and Christopher M. Pharr. Also, Lisbeth Mary Almonte, Jason lee Lowry, Amber Jessica Walker, Holly Megan Dyer, John Phuc Hoang Le, Corey Matthew Love, Nancy Xiong, Savannah V. Henderson and Asyssa Marie Hudak. Also, Teresa Marie Woytsek, Jenny Lor, Jackie Yang and Phillip Ryan Osier. Jay Watson Owner Winder, Ga. A LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT COMPANY Landscape Maintenance / Design / Irrigation Hardscapes / Horticultural Services FREE ESTIMATES sivadscapes@windstream.net Your Local Christian Bookstore Bibles ■ Inspirational Books ■ Movies Music * Cards Gifts * Clothing • Jewelry Church Supplies - And More! WWW. YourC rossConnection.com April Specials: • Bring a Church Bulletin for 10% off Mondays • 10% off all books each Tuesday • Come celebrate KlBjS BAY April 25th! Op cn 7 gfo/Weet Inside Wans|iQJ»e 73 r. Street Winder, GA
